The flight landed in Amsterdam more than three hours late. (Representative pic)
A United Airlines flight heading from Houston, US, to the Dutch capital, Amsterdam, was diverted to Chicago after an unruly business-class passenger interrupted the flight because his preferred meal was not available.
Citing Flight tracking website Flightradar24, The Guardian reported that the flight, which took off at 4:20pm from Houston on Sunday, was in Chicago airspace just two hours into its journey. The flight then began circling the city’s O’Hare International Airport to use up fuel in order to reduce the weight of the aircraft. Taking to Twitter, Flightradar24 said that the flight was “jettisoning fuel prior to diversion” due to a problem passenger.
#UA20 from Houston to Amsterdam jettisoning fuel prior to diversion to Chicago due to an unruly passenger. https://t.co/aAyj03wnLYpic.twitter.com/FzGN6090MC
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) July 10, 2023
An hour later, aviation watcher XJonNYC then shared internal United communications on Twitter stating that there was a “disruptive [passenger] on board”. The user also tweeted that the passenger “was noted to be intoxicated as well, but meal choice seems to have been an enragement point”.
F*** YOU seat 11G https://t.co/urPOTexksfpic.twitter.com/TnPAvmnXJW
— 🇺🇦 JonNYC 🇺🇦 (@xJonNYC) July 10, 2023
In a statement to The Guardian, the airline said: “United flight 20 from George Bush Intercontinental Airport to Amsterdam diverted to O’Hare International Airport and landed safely following a passenger disturbance. Law enforcement met the aircraft at the gate and escorted the passenger off the plane. The aircraft then continued to Amsterdam.”
Separately, according to Flightradar24, the flight landed in Amsterdam more than three hours late. It is still unclear exactly what meal the unruly passenger had gotten upset over.
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Meanwhile, speaking of unruly passengers, the International Air Transport Association reported earlier this year that unruly passenger incidents increased 47% in 2022 compared with the year before, with an incident occurring once every 568 flights.
Last month, a rowdy woman passenger in the US was also arrested and dragged off a Southwest Airlines plane from New Orleans. The 25-year-old Kansas woman, identified as Kamaryn Gibson, was allegedly drunk and kept putting her feet up while being seated in the aircraft and kicking the passenger on the seat in front of her.
After she caused a disturbance, she was asked to get off the plane peacefully, but ”she refused to exit the plane multiple times,” Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office Captain Jason Rivarde said. As a result, the pilots were forced to return the plane to the gate to deboard the unruly passenger.